--- title: Sometimes All Finish Lines Can’t Be Crossed description: A young sailor shares her journey of disappointment and resilience after retiring from the Newport Bermuda Race, ultimately finding new opportunities in sailing. image: https://nbya.org/hubfs/Copy%20of%20NBYA.org%20Featured%20Image%201200x630%20-%202026-10-05T143320.166.png --- [Skip to content](https://nbya.org/news/sometimes-all-finish-lines-cant-be-crossed#main-content) [![Narragansett Bay Yachting Association](https://nbya.org/hubfs/2025-10-21_Burgee_and_NBYA.svg)Homepage](https://nbya.org) - [JUNIOR SAILING](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing) - [Register on Clubspot](https://narragansettbayyachtingassociation.theclubspot.com/) - [Junior Mission](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#junior-mission) - [Perpetual Awards and Special Events](https://nbya.org/junior-perpetual-trophies) - [Mary Rose Marshall Regatta](https://nbya.org/mary-rose-marshall-regatta) - [Junior News](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#junior-news) - [Junior Calendar](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#junior-calendar) - [Volunteer](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#junior-volunteer) - [FAQs](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#junior-faqs) - [Zero Tolerance Policy](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#junior-zero-tolerance-policy) - [Scholarships & Grants](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#scholarships-and-grants) - [Sammis Scholarship](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#scholarships-and-grants) - [CJ Buckley Scholarship](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#junior-CJ-Buckley-Scholarship) - [RACING & CRUISING](https://nbya.org/racing-cruising) - [Boat of the Year](https://nbya.org/boty) - [Bay Challenge](https://nbya.org/challenge) - [Women's Sailing](https://nbya.org/womens-sailing) - [Model Boat Racing](https://nbya.org/model-boat-racing) - [NEWS](https://nbya.org/news) - [Share Your Stories](https://nbya.org/share-stories) - [ABOUT](https://nbya.org/about) - [Member Organizations](https://nbya.org/member-organizations) - [History](https://nbya.org/history) - [Official Documents](https://nbya.org/official-documents) - JOIN - [Junior Membership](https://narragansettbayyachtingassociation.theclubspot.com/join) - [Adult Membership](https://payments-na1.hubspot.com/payments/p49gQGtzMMbyJw?referrer=PAYMENT_LINK) [CALENDAR](https://nbya.org/calendar) - [JUNIOR SAILING](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing) - [Register on Clubspot](https://narragansettbayyachtingassociation.theclubspot.com/) - [Junior Mission](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#junior-mission) - [Perpetual Awards and Special Events](https://nbya.org/junior-perpetual-trophies) - [Mary Rose Marshall Regatta](https://nbya.org/mary-rose-marshall-regatta) - [Junior News](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#junior-news) - [Junior Calendar](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#junior-calendar) - [Volunteer](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#junior-volunteer) - [FAQs](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#junior-faqs) - [Zero Tolerance Policy](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#junior-zero-tolerance-policy) - [Scholarships & Grants](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#scholarships-and-grants) - [Sammis Scholarship](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#scholarships-and-grants) - [CJ Buckley Scholarship](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing#junior-CJ-Buckley-Scholarship) - [RACING & CRUISING](https://nbya.org/racing-cruising) - [Boat of the Year](https://nbya.org/boty) - [Bay Challenge](https://nbya.org/challenge) - [Women's Sailing](https://nbya.org/womens-sailing) - [Model Boat Racing](https://nbya.org/model-boat-racing) - [NEWS](https://nbya.org/news) - [Share Your Stories](https://nbya.org/share-stories) - [ABOUT](https://nbya.org/about) - [Member Organizations](https://nbya.org/member-organizations) - [History](https://nbya.org/history) - [Official Documents](https://nbya.org/official-documents) - JOIN - [Junior Membership](https://narragansettbayyachtingassociation.theclubspot.com/join) - [Adult Membership](https://payments-na1.hubspot.com/payments/p49gQGtzMMbyJw?referrer=PAYMENT_LINK) [CALENDAR](https://nbya.org/calendar) ![](https://nbya.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Copy%20of%20NBYA.org%20Featured%20Image%201200x630%20-%202026-10-05T143320.166.png?width=1200&height=630&name=Copy%20of%20NBYA.org%20Featured%20Image%201200x630%20-%202026-10-05T143320.166.png) Junior PHRF In The News # Sometimes All Finish Lines Can’t Be Crossed ![NBYA](https://nbya.org/hs-fs/hubfs/2026-01-03_NBYA_300x300.png?width=48&height=48&name=2026-01-03_NBYA_300x300.png) NBYA October 9, 2026 *Junior Sailor Author: Aurora "Rory" Meunier Mott, Editor: Chris Szepessy, republished with permission from WindCheck Magazine, October 2026* ### There is a certain kind of disappointment that you feel when you retire from a race, and I think most sailors have felt it at some point. You prepare for the miles, the weather, and the long hours, and then suddenly, all of that planning goes down the drain. We couldn’t predict that the boat had other plans for us. I was invited to do the 2026 Newport Bermuda Race with Tim Kent on his Class40, Kent Racing. I was beyond excited when I got the call from him. I thought to myself, “My first Newport Bermuda Race, double-handed, on a Class40! What could be better than this?” The weeks before the race were filled with practicing, doing boat work, and getting to know each other and how we sailed together. A week before the race, we delivered the boat from Oyster Bay to Newport. Once the boat was in Newport Harbor, the nerves started to come along with the adrenaline. We put a new mainsail on, organized everything, and put our names on the side of the boat. This was the first time I had ever seen my name with the American flag next to it on a boat. What I felt in that moment was a completely new kind of feeling. It made everything feel real. I was actually about to do my first Newport Bermuda Race. The day of the race, there was a buzz in the air. My parents dropped me off in Newport, said their goodbyes, and then headed to Fort Adams to watch the start. Tim and I were going over the weather and our course, especially the Gulf Stream and the different entry points we could use to get into it. We got off our mooring, and once we saw the starting area, I was in shock. I knew there would be a lot of boats, but this… this was insane. The entire time, my head was on a swivel, making sure I wasn’t too close to other boats and that we weren’t getting in the way of anyone who was starting. After every ten minutes, there were fewer and fewer boats around us. About thirty minutes before our start, we put the main up. Ten minutes before our start, we went to furl out the jib. Except it wouldn’t unfurl. Tim went up to the bow to try to figure out what was wrong, and by the time all of the boats in our class had crossed the starting line, we still didn’t have a jib. Finally, a couple minutes after our start, we got the jib to unfurl. I kept telling myself that it was okay. It was a 650-nautical-mile race, and we had plenty of time to make up the distance. We started tacking out of the harbor, which was already a bit difficult because the wind was around 20 knots. After one of our tacks, the jib sheet got caught in the winch on the mast. At this point, it seemed like the jib was against Tim and me and just did not want to cooperate. But the jib wasn’t done. After a couple more tacks, Tim and I were finally starting to get our groove back. I was steering, and Tim was pulling in the jib when he suddenly stopped. I looked at him with a confused face, my thoughts going all over the place. “Why isn’t he pulling the jib in? We have to catch up!” Then he said, “It ripped.”   ![](https://www.windcheckmagazine.com/app/uploads/2026/09/post-1_image2-12.jpg) *Tim and Rory’s names on the side of Kent Racing*   The only thing I could do was laugh. Because of course he was joking. Right? I put the autopilot on and looked up. All I could see were two huge tears across the jib. As I was processing what had just happened, my face started to get hot, and I could feel the tears starting to run down my face. I didn’t want to cry, especially in front of Tim, but all of that adrenaline had to go somewhere. Tim looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, “I am so sorry, Rory.” I looked at him and realized we were retiring from the race. We furled the torn jib and sailed back in. On our way back, I looked at my phone. It was filled with messages from my family members who had come to see the start. I decided to ignore them and call my mom instead. Once she answered, I sat there in silence for a couple of moments. Finally, I said, “We are retiring.” After that, most of the sail back to the mooring was a blur. Once we got back, we started figuring out how to get the sail down. We decided that we had to cut it down. For two hours, Tim was in the chair up the mast trying to cut the sail down. Eventually, most of it was cut, and we decided to come back the next day to cut the rest. After getting to the dock and explaining the situation to my parents, they could tell how devastated I was. But then I remembered something. A month before the race, Jesse Fielding had asked if I could help with a delivery back to Newport on Space Monkey, a Mills 68. I had told him that I was already doing the Bermuda to Newport Shorthanded Return Race, so I couldn’t help. I had first gotten in touch with Jesse the year before, around August. I was sailing on Groupe 5 for the 2025 Ida Lewis Distance Race through a program called Neka. Around that same time, Jesse was getting ready to go to Europe to sail the Double Handed Worlds with Leah Sweet, and Neka was helping financially to get them there.   ![](https://www.windcheckmagazine.com/app/uploads/2026/09/post-1_image3-6.jpg) *Kent Racing’s jib self-destructed before the start of the Newport Bermuda Race. © Joe Cooper*   I got a call asking if I would be interested in helping as shore crew. Since I wasn’t in college and had no plans for the fall, I said yes. For about a month, I learned so much from Jesse and Leah while we were in Europe. I got to see what it was like to prepare for high-level offshore racing from a different perspective. I learned about the work that goes on behind the scenes, the preparation, and everything that has to happen before a boat can even leave the dock. So, when I was sitting on the dock after retiring from the Newport Bermuda Race, I remembered that conversation. I quickly texted Jesse. I told him that I had to retire from the race because of sail problems and asked if he still needed help with the delivery. Five minutes later, he texted me back. “Can you be in Bermuda by Monday?” I said yes. Halfway over the Newport Bridge, I had secured a spot on an awesome boat for a delivery.   *![](https://www.windcheckmagazine.com/app/uploads/2026/09/post-1_image4-2.jpg)* *Ripped jib furled in from land perspective.*   I was still devastated that I couldn’t do the race I had spent weeks preparing for. I was disappointed, frustrated, and honestly, heartbroken. But sailing has a funny way of teaching you that things don’t always go according to plan. Sometimes you get knocked down. You just have to get back up and find the silver lining. Once I got to Bermuda, I found Jesse and the rest of the crew. We spent a couple of days on the island, having fun and figuring out our plan for the trip home. We left Bermuda on June 24. Our destination was Newport, and we had 650 nautical miles ahead of us. Three days later, on June 27, we arrived in Newport. Three days, 650 nautical miles. I was in disbelief at how fast we were going and the performance of the boat. We had almost perfect conditions the entire way. We never had less than 10 knots of wind, and we avoided any bad weather. After everything that had happened with Kent Racing, I couldn’t help but feel like I had somehow been given a second chance. I didn’t get the Newport Bermuda Race I had dreamed about. I didn’t get to cross the finish line in Bermuda on the Class40 with my name and the American flag next to it, but I still got to go to Bermuda. I still got to sail 650 miles offshore. And I got to do it on a Mills 68, surrounded by people who had already taught me so much and who continued to give me opportunities to learn. The race didn’t go the way I had planned. But maybe that doesn’t mean it went wrong. Sometimes you spend months preparing for one opportunity, only to have it disappear in a matter of minutes. It’s easy to focus on what you lost and forget to look at what came next. I think that is one of the biggest things sailing has taught me. You can plan your route, study the weather, prepare the boat, and do everything you possibly can to be ready, but once you leave the dock you have to be ready for anything. Sometimes, the jib rips. Sometimes, you have to retire. And sometimes, halfway over the Newport Bridge, you get a text asking if you can be in Bermuda by Monday. You just have to say yes. Aurora “Rory” Meunier Mott is from Westerly, Rhode Island. She began sailing at age 14 at The Prout School, where her passion for the sport first took shape. After graduating in 2024, she started exploring the possibilities of a career in the sailing industry. In March 2025, she traveled to France to assist Erica Lush in preparing for her first solo race. This experience offered Rory a deeper look into professional sailing and inspired her to dream even bigger. In October 2025, she returned to Europe for another month, competing in the C30 Nationals in France and supporting Jesse Fielding and Leah Sweet as they prepared for the Double Handed Worlds in Cowes, England. In mid-November, she completed her first Atlantic crossing and completed a delivery from Bermuda to Newport after retiring from the 2026 Newport Bermuda Race. Rory is currently working at Aquidneck Custom Composites in Bristol, where she continues to develop knowledge in the marine industry and build the experience to pursue her goal of becoming a professional sailor. ■   ## Share this post [mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fnbya.org%2Fnews%2Fsometimes-all-finish-lines-cant-be-crossed](mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fnbya.org%2Fnews%2Fsometimes-all-finish-lines-cant-be-crossed) ## Keep reading ### [![](https://nbya.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Copy%20of%20NBYA.org%20Featured%20Image%201200x630%20-%202026-10-08T094748.674.png?width=1200&height=630&name=Copy%20of%20NBYA.org%20Featured%20Image%201200x630%20-%202026-10-08T094748.674.png) Junior PHRF In The News My First Bermuda Return Delivery](https://nbya.org/news/my-first-bermuda-return-delivery) ### [![](https://nbya.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Copy%20of%20NBYA.org%20Featured%20Image%201200x630%20-%202026-10-05T142727.046.png?width=1200&height=630&name=Copy%20of%20NBYA.org%20Featured%20Image%201200x630%20-%202026-10-05T142727.046.png) Junior PHRF In The News Chasing Five Knots](https://nbya.org/news/chasing-five-knots) - [Home](https://nbya.org) - [Junior Sailing](https://nbya.org/junior-sailing) - [Racing & Cruising](https://nbya.org/racing-cruising) - [News](https://nbya.org/news) - [About](https://nbya.org/about) - [Calendar](https://nbya.org/calendar) --- [![Narragansett Bay Yachting Association (NBYA)](https://nbya.org/hs-fs/hubfs/2025-10-21_Burgee_and_NBYA_white.png?width=300&height=92&name=2025-10-21_Burgee_and_NBYA_white.png "Narragansett Bay Yachting Association (NBYA)")](https://nbya.org) ###### Narragansett Bay Yachting Association (NBYA) works to support and grow sailing in Greater Rhode Island. 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